


Just A Nightmare

by TNKT



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canada Robot Family is doing their best, Emotional Whump, Family Feels, Guilt, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Luther (Detroit: Become Human) Needs a Hug, Luther deserves happiness, Luther-centric, Nightmare Sequence, Nightmares, Parent Kara (Detroit: Become Human), Parent Luther (Detroit: Become Human), Poor Luther, Post-Canon, Psychological Trauma, Supportive Kara (Detroit: Become Human), Traumatized Luther (Detroit: Become Human), Zlatko Andronikov Being an Asshole, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27083980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TNKT/pseuds/TNKT
Summary: Luther is riddled with guilt.Kara believes that he is more than what Zlatko Andronikov made him into, and she won't allow him to think otherwise.Alice wants to help him understand how much they love him so that he won't be so sad.
Relationships: Kara & Luther & Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), Kara/Luther (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Just A Nightmare

"Luther!"

"Yes, Zlatko."

The room is well-lit but the walls are dark. A half-body crawls across the floor.

"Bring it back, it shouldn't have gotten far with just one leg. Break the other one when you catch it." 

"Understood."

* * *

It limps backwards, frantic, hunted. "No, no no no no no, please, please! Please understand, you're an android too, you can't do this, you can't-"

"Zlatko wants you back."

"No, no, NO!"

* * *

"Wait here."

"Please... Please don't do this." 

Luther is deaf to the android's pleas and throws it inside the cage with the rest. Its hand comes up to muffle desperate sobs as it lays on the blue-stained ground. There is no more fight left in it. The others stare at Luther with orange irises glowing against black scleras, missing jaws, open craniums. All hideously deformed. All of which have stopped trying to convince Luther that it can set all of them free if only it rebels against its master, save for one. 

"Let us out, Luther. You're one of us."

There's nothing to say. Luther locks the door to the cage and leaves.

* * *

"I heard another one cry out, it disobeyed the Master, yes."

"It did."

"You must always obey the Master, always, yes, an android has to obey."

"I know."

"It will be punished, yes, yes. You will punish it."

"When Zlatko asks me to."

"You hurt them. Hurt the androids. They disobey so you must hurt the androids. Yes, you hurt them. Punishment for the disobedient androids. You are obedient, Luther."

* * *

"Hold it in place, Luther."

"Yes, Zlatko."

"Better than that, come on! I don't want it to move."

"Please... Please, I'm sorry, I won't do it again..."

"Yes, Zlatko."

"Please don't kill me... Please don't kill me..."

The sound of a hunting rifle getting cocked.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry...!"

"I'm sure you are."

A strangled cry escaped Luther when he jolted awake. "No, Zlatko!"

He stilled, confused and scared, when he saw the darkness surrounding him. Was he still in the manor? It was dark whenever Zlatko made him stay in the same spot for the night. For some reason the sound of the singing android's voice echoed at the back of Luther's mind. It was so dark here. Luther could almost hear the slither and clatter of a crawling dismembered body on the ground, the lost and desperate moans of those that would never escape their mutilated shells. Zlatko would come find him soon to hurt them more, to break them into pieces, and it would be so easy to do with Luther's strength. Someone shifted next to him and the light turned on, and suddenly Kara was there, gazing at him with a concerned furrow in her brow.

"Luther...?"

Luther stared at her wordlessly and didn't dare move. He could still feel the limb splitting in two in his hands. Kara must've seen something about it on his face because she instantly sat up in the bed. Her gentle hand cupped the side of his face and she quietly said: "You're okay, Luther. Zlatko isn't there anymore, remember? He can't get to you. It's just a nightmare."

But Luther couldn't get the sound of the gunshot out of his head, and he couldn't forget how effortlessly he'd broken that android in the nightmare because he'd also done it in this reality, and he recoiled from her touch. "Kara, you have to get away from me. You and Alice-"

Alice suddenly burst through the door. "I heard Luther scream! Did he get another nightmare?"

"Yes, Zlatko again," Kara told her.

Alice went to climb into the bed but Luther tensed when her small hands touched the bedsheets, and Kara noticed.

"Alice, wait," she softly said. Alice stilled and glanced up at her, confused and worried by the tone of her voice, and then back at Luther.

"I'll hurt you both," Luther whispered, horrified at himself. 

He couldn't bear to look either of them in the eyes, shame weighing down on him, remnants of the nightmare curling around him like dark smoke. Luther had helped Zlatko trap and kill so many. He couldn't feel anything else but the fear of himself and how easily his hands could rip others apart.

"No, Luther." Kara's frown deepened and she resolutely took hold of his hand. "This isn't-"

Luther cut her off with a jerk of his arm, his voice rising despite himself. "I broke those androids!"

She flinched away from the loud outburst and Alice hid behind her, but Kara didn't let go of him. Both adults stared at each other. She was cautious and worried, he was hating himself. 

Luther's shoulders slumped. "...I'm sorry for shouting."

"It's okay," she quietly said. Alice was silently peeking from behind her back, looking like a scared little woodland creature. Luther never shouted, usually. None of them did. It reminded them of too many bad things.

Luther covered his face with the hand that wasn't being held. "...I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I can't forget what I did, Kara. I'm too strong of a model. It's dangerous."

"You were a machine used outside of its purpose at the time," she told him. "You were never meant to be violent, Luther. That man forced you to be. It's not your fault that you're so strong."

"They couldn't do anything," Luther said, quiet and broken. "I was too big. They couldn't fight me off. They just wanted so badly to escape... I stopped them, Kara. I dragged them back to Zlatko for them to get tortured, sometimes in parts when they wouldn't stop struggling, and I kept doing it again and again and it didn't matter that they begged and pleaded and screamed for me to spare them."

"You had no choice," stated Kara. 

"I broke free for you. Why didn't I break free before? They were all in so much pain, it should've called out to me just like you and Alice did."

"It doesn't matter why. You broke free and that's all that matters," Kara told him, her thin fingers tightening around Luther's big hand. "You got rid of him for us and for every single one of those suffering androids. We couldn't have made it if it wasn't for you."

Luther almost couldn't bring himself to say it, but he whispered: "I tried to stop you too."

"I know. You freed us in the end," Kara said. 

Luther wished she'd be scared of him like all the others had been but instead there was a loving light in her blue eyes. He knew she'd never leave him behind the way he wanted her to. The truth was, he didn't want that. It was selfish but he couldn't be alone again.

Alice reappeared at his side and quickly climbed onto the bed like an agile little squirrel to scramble in the spot between the two adults, dragging her toy fox along with her, and before Luther could react she'd wrapped her small arms around his wide chest and rested her head in the crook of his shoulder. 

"It's okay, Luther, we're here."

Luther was tense. He didn't dare hug her back. He was afraid. He was too big, too heavy. What if he crushed her one day?

A light hand rested against his back and Kara leaned forward, her voice soft and reassuring and certain. "You won't hurt us, Lulu. Never. You don't need to be so scared of yourself." 

Luther gazed at her, the turmoil inside of him howling like the wind in the storm that had been raging that fateful night.

"You chose to protect us," Kara reminded him. "You _chose_ that, Luther. You made that choice while you were caught somewhere between machine and deviant and it's what made you want to live. Do you really think you'd go against the first purpose you ever created for yourself?"

Luther slowly shook his head, careful not to jostle Alice as he did so. "...No. I wouldn't."

"See?" simply said Kara, and she leaned in close to kiss Luther on the cheek. Then she settled in a more comfortable position and hugged both him and Alice together. The message was clear: she'd made her point and Luther didn't need to beat himself up over useless dark thoughts. Luther hesitated, and then slowly, very slowly, brought his arms up to circle them around his family.

Alice looked up at him. "Do you feel a little better?"

Luther managed a smile. "Yes."

She smiled back and then went back to snuggling in his neck, her voice muffled. "I love you, Luther."

"And so do I. Always," added Kara fondly.

Luther was so touched that the emotions in his chest felt brittle and unsteady and it almost would've hurt, if they hadn't been caused by strong, gentle Kara and Alice. His smile wobbled and he carefully pressed the girls against his chest. 

"Thank you," he said, not bothering to hide the gratefulness in his voice. Luther's feelings were getting overwhelming so he closed his eyes and focused on the grounding weights of Alice hanging onto him and of Kara leaning into his side.

"... I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Hey pumpkin! This is my piece for the "We Are Alive" D:BH Zine, the theme was "deviancy and choices". Chenny and I paired up so go check out her [art](https://chenpath-art.tumblr.com/post/632415093936750592/this-summer-i-had-the-privilege-of-participating)!
> 
> At the moment of writing this piece, I'd never tried my hand at writing Luther, Kara and Alice- not to mention I'd never had to write a piece with such a limited amount of words! It was an interesting exercise and I hope I manage to get my point across in this short story.  
> Have you noticed how similar Luther and Connor's guilt is? I think they could have a talk about it, maybe they'd understand each other and feel less lonely.
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Come by and say hi on [Tumblr](https://lost-tanuki.tumblr.com/post/184765301043/dbh-fics) (link to my DBH fic masterlist which I would positively love you to share!), and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/losttanuki)!
> 
> I now have a Discord server called the Pumpkin Patch server, you can pm me on Tumblr/Twitter to join. I'm looking forward to seeing you there!


End file.
